More than 300 sub-Saharan African migrants are missing, presumed drowned in the Mediterranean, after the rubber dinghies on which they sailed from Libya to Italy sank, a disaster that has increased pressure to revive navy patrols in the area.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — After two days of summit meetings here, President Obama and other world leaders signed a lengthy declaration of prescriptions for the global economy, including pledges that placed a renewed emphasis on creating jobs as...

It’s been a hangout of intellectuals and politicians for about 450 years, and for the last 40, the gorgeous Villa d’Este on Lake Como in Italy has been the place where other politicians and intellectuals, joined by the modern-day aristocrats...

ROME -- Italy’s former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has made a last-minute U-turn on plans to bring down the Italian government, backing premier Enrico Letta in a crucial confidence vote after members of his own party threatened to desert him....

Italian authorities have arrested a 35-year-old Tunisian with a reported history of human smuggling in last week's deadly sinking of a boat packed with some 500 Africans migrants trying to reach Europe, according to media reports.
Khaled Ben Salem was...

LONDON — European leaders united in outrage Thursday over reported U.S. spying, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel declaring that trust between her government and the Obama administration would need to be rebuilt after reports that U.S. intelligence agencies might have tapped her cellphone.
Amid signs of anger from close allies over mass electronic surveillance, Germany's Foreign Ministry also summoned U.S. Ambassador John B. Emerson to make clear its displeasure. Foreign Minister Guido...

LONDON -- Distilling their anger over reports of U.S. spying on European citizens and governments, including heads of state, European Union leaders are calling for a meeting with U.S. officials on the matter before the end of the year.
In a statement issued by European Council President Herman van Rompuy and posted Friday on the EU's website, the leaders summarized their discussions Thursday on allegations of National Security Agency monitoring of phone traffic across Europe.
The statement,...

ROME -- Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on Thursday announced his resignation after surrendering to a leadership challenge from a party colleague who is widely expected to become Italy’s youngest-ever prime minister.
The challenger, Matteo Renzi, 39, was overwhelmingly backed by the center-left Democratic Party after he demanded that a new government lead Italy out of a “quagmire.” For 10 months, Letta has led a shaky coalition government that has struggled largely without...

Enrico Letta Photos

ROME -- Matteo Renzi, 39, was sworn in as Italy’s youngest ever prime minister Saturday alongside the most youthful Cabinet of ministers ever to govern Italy, half of whom are women.
Renzi, the former mayor of Florence, has no political experience on the national stage, but has promised to rapidly tackle the stagnant bureaucracy, heavy tax burden and chronic unemployment that plagues the Eurozone’s third-largest economy.
Amid doubts over the reliability of his backing in parliament,...

By Carol J. Williams
, This post has been corrected. See the note below for details.

Story
| Feb 7, 2014
| 9:14 AM

MOSCOW – Russian television viewers could be forgiven Friday for failing to notice that the leaders of the United States and some of its political allies were absent from the hoopla in Sochi.
President Vladimir Putin used the hours before the lavish opening ceremony for the Olympic Winter Games to hold court with world leaders who did attend and project an image of the globally influential chief of a resurgent Russia.
Upon arrival in Sochi, where Western journalists have focused on fears of a...